OF WHOM ARE YOU A REFLECTION?
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Introduction: A small child asked his father, "Dad, what is a Christian?" The father replied, "A Christian is a person who loves and obeys God. He loves his friends and neighbors, and even his enemies. He prays often, is kind, gentle, and holy, and is more interested in going to heaven than in all earthly riches. That, son, is a Christian!" The boy looked puzzled and thought for a minute, then asked, "Have I ever seen one?" (copied) Jesus Christ, when asked by the disciples to reveal to them the Father said, “If you have seen Me, You have seen the Father.” Hebrews 1:3 tells us that He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. He is the reflection of His Father. Of whom are you a reflection?
I. Man’s Distorted Image
A. Created in the Image of God
1. When God made man He made man to be a reflection of Himself.
2. Genesis 1:26-27 “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
3. As such God created man a trichotomy having a physical body, an intellect, and a will. He created us as a mirrored reflection of the Godhead.
4. Man was perfect, sinless, and holy, the image of his Creator.
B. Distorted by the Fall of Man
1. Man’s mirrored image of God became distorted and twisted like the reflections seen in the mirrors on a carnival’s midway by his disobedience and sin in the garden.
2. Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
3. Man’s heart became darkened by sin and is exceedingly evil. Man’s body became terminal infected with physical pain, suffering, and death. Man’s soul died – no longer the image of the Maker.
4. Had Adam and Eve retained their original state, they never would have died. But Eve and then Adam yielded to the serpent’s temptation, and death came into the world. Before that moment, they were in a beautiful, pristine state. They existed on a level far above the present condition of the human race. It is difficult to imagine what man was like then by viewing him as he is now. David Breese, Living For Eternity, Moody Press, 1988, p. 99
5. Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”
6. In Noah’s day it is said that " the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5) The Psalmist wrote concerning man that " together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one." (Psalm 14:3). And Paul reaffirms this statement from David applying it to the people of his day stating "As it is written, None is righteous, no, not one." (Romans 3:10).
C. Therefore, God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3) to provide the way for man’s redemption and transformation.
II. The Believer’s Changing Image
A. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
B. 2 Corinthians 3:18 “We all, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory...” (HCSB)
C. The Christian is to no longer present a twisted reflection of the Creator but to reflect the beauty of Christ in every area of his or her life. We are to demonstrate Christ in all of our attitudes and actions.
D. Colossians 3:8-14 “But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
E. When others see us do they see a true reflection of the heart of Christ? Do they see loving hearts full of love even for the unlovely, forgiving hearts that do not harbor resentment, humble hearts that do not seek their own way? The words they hear from our lips are they words that Christ would utter? Or are they filled with bitterness, gossip, negativity and the poison of dissension and strife?
F. There are many who present a counterfeit image of Christ. They believe the right things; they do the rights things; they avoid the right things; they say the right things; but they are pseudo images of Christ.
G. There are those who suppose they are ok with the Lord because they believe the right things. They know the Bible well, and can quote Scripture. There are some that assume that they are Christians because they attend church, give tithes and offerings and read the Bible, pray regularly, and even fast now and then. There are those who avoid lists of things seen as taboo. From all outward appearances they have it all together and come across as righteous.
H. Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”
I. To be a true reflection of God the reflection must come from a changed heart.
J. Proverbs 27:19 “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.”
K. Changed hearts equals changed lives producing a restored image.
L. Realize that God never alters the robe of righteousness to fit man; He changes the man to fit the robe.
III. Saint’s Restored Image
A. 2 Corinthians 3:18 “We all, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory...” (HCSB)
B. We must all ask ourselves, “Am I more like Christ today than I was yesterday?”
C. Romans 8:29 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
D. Shortly before his death, the legendary film producer Cecil B DeMille wrote this beautiful meditation:
"One day as I was lying in a canoe, a big black beetle came out of the water and climbed up into the canoe. I watched it idly for some time. Under the heat of the sun, the beetle proceeded to die. Then a strange thing happened. His glistening black shell cracked all the way down his back. Out of it came a shapeless mass, quickly transformed into beautiful, brilliantly colored life. As I watched in fascination, there gradually unfolded iridescent wings from which the sunlight flashed a thousand colors. The wings spread wide, as if in worship of the sun. The blue-green body took shape. Before my eyes had occurred a metamorphosis-- the transformation of a hideous beetle into a gorgeous dragonfly, which started dipping and soaring over the water. But the body it had left behind still clung to my canoe. I had witnessed what seemed to me a miracle. Out of the mud had come a beautiful new life. And the thought came to me, that if the Creator works such wonders with the lowliest of creatures, what may not be in store for the human spirit?" – Sermon Illustrations for Holidays and Special Occasions
E. 1 John 3:2 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
F. And God said: Let us [form] man in our image.
The world says: We must [conform] man in our image.
The Devil said: I will [deform] man by sin.
Education says: Let us [inform] man by knowledge.
Society says: We will [reform] man by culture.
Only Christ says: I will [transform] man by love. — The Sword of the Lord
Note: All Scripture quotations unless marked otherwise are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Disclaimer: Source material for this sermon has been gleaned from many different sources. I have attempted to acknowledge these sources whenever possible. Please feel free to use this message as God’s Holy Spirit directs your heart.
